I've been busy lately, taking care of a lot of household shit. Combine that with the warm weather and it's obligatory family bbqs, birthdays, mothers/fathers day, etc, and I simply haven't been to the gym much. In the past, this would bother me. Now? I'm OK with it. I hit the gym when I can, get in, work up a sweat, get out. I'm following a 5/3/1 right now just to keep tabs on things, but I may only get to the gym 1-2x per week right now, so as long as I hit those numbers, I'm OK with it. I'm also trying to knock out more cardio/conditioning. Gearing into the last meet, I put on about 10-15lbs of bloat to gain some extra power. And it hurt me in a cardiovascular sense. Out of breathe just talking, haha. So I'm including interval sprints, and shirtless runs around the neighborhood with my dog, scaring all the neighbors with my exposed upper body.
Today, I was pressed for time so instead of going over to my gym, I decided to do a little backyard workout. Its something I picked up while in the NJSP academy and something I turn to every now and then to get something different in and work up a sweat. You just grab a deck of cards and pick 4 exercises.
Draw a card. 9 of hearts? Do 9 pushups. Draw again. King of clubs? 10 crunches. Do all 52 cards. It ends up being 85 reps total, per exercise I think, all done back to back (as best you can). I finished it off with a 1/2mile run with the dog. Done.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
Coronato shared a link with me. Its up in Hillsboro on 6/2. A charity event for autism. Three events; keg clean/press, carry, and load. I've never done anything like it, so I'm in the midst of making my own 180lb keg to see if I should even bother. Sure, clean/pressing 185lbs on a barbell is an afterthought. But 180/210lb keg? That's a whole different ball game.[/QUOTE]
Ill have to find out more details on it bc that is something I would def be interested in. Hillsborough is 20 min from my house
Nothing in life is ever handed to me, I go out take that shit for myself.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
Since the meet, training has been hit or miss. Its been maybe 6 weeks since I competed and hit the goals I wanted. Sure, I still want more. But right now, I have more important things to take care of. I've been spending all my days "off" from work and doing things around the home. Recently, I took down the old and put up a new fence, all 32 panels of it. Once that was done, I built a custom fire pit and then proceeded to cut all 32 fence panels up into smaller pieces. Instead of paying money to dump my old fence, I'm burning the entire stock pile in my fire pit. I've also built/upgraded my patio. And next up on the list is adding a deck onto the yard and then finally a stone enclosure for the fire pit. Additionally, I'm also slowly re-doing my upstairs bathroom, the laundry room, and still figuring out the leak issue in my one upstairs window. Its a lot of work but I enjoy doing it. And sweating my ass off doing some grown-ass-man work is OK with me. Its a nice break. And outlet.
And reason for doing all this now? The wife is pregnant with our first kid, our son! Due 12/30. So I want to pound all this shit out now so that once the fall/winter comes, I can relax and get ready for that lil fucker. Good times. So I've been hitting the gym 2x a week, if that. I'm still doing conjugate and having fun with it, but it may take a month for me to get through 4 workouts. Whatever. In between all the house shit, overtime on my road has picked up for the summer. Lots of construction, aggressive driver details, seatbelt details, etc. I'm home maybe one day a week and crushing yard work. Bear down.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
KUDOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're going to love being a dad. Dang was one day away from New Years Eve! If y'alls OB decides to go full term.
I highly recommend you get everything done that you need to! The wife won't cut you much slack, you won't get much sleep BUT you'll be happy and find yourself able to dig up energy to train lightning fast to come home and see the little guy.
Our baby girl just came into the world and let me tell ya, one kid is MUCH easier then two LOL!
KUDOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're going to love being a dad. Dang was one day away from New Years Eve! If y'alls OB decides to go full term.
I highly recommend you get everything done that you need to! The wife won't cut you much slack, you won't get much sleep BUT you'll be happy and find yourself able to dig up energy to train lightning fast to come home and see the little guy.
Our baby girl just came into the world and let me tell ya, one kid is MUCH easier then two LOL!
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. Slowly, everything is coming together. But yesterday, I went to help my brother move a heavy piece of furniture and sustained an injury. Him and I were carrying a long cabinet set and he ended up dumping it without letting me know. He's an amateur when it comes to carrying weird shit. So he bailed, I didn't. The cabinet tilted as it fell and took a few layers of skin off the outer side of my left thumb. I wrapped that son' bitch up and went to the gym after, but it was probably a bad idea in the end, haha. So I'm shelved for the next few days while it heals up.
I was going to post a few workouts in here but I left my gym bag (and training log) in the truck and its too fucking hot to walk outside just for that. I'm still training conjugate ... when I can. Funny story though ... a few ME Lower workouts ago, I was working up to a heavy single off 2" blocks. I envisioned pulling about 475lbs for my top single. Worked up to it and it was easy. So I did something I've never done before; threw on 5 plates and pulled it fairly easily. It was the first time I've ever hit a 5 plate deadlift in the gym on a regular training day where it wasn't a max out effort. Something is working. Something is clicking. I'll keep on truckin'.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
It was nice seeing you at Atilis the other day... I didn't realize that you guys are having a little one!! How exciting!! Congratulations...
Fraternal Order of the Animal-Demon
The Crew™
Saraigh
Ohio Valley ABC
Chapter Coordinator
"WE HAVE SENT THE MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, THE HUNGRY ONES. THIS IS OUR JUNGLE AND WE ARE THE ANIMALS. THIS IS WHERE THE STRONG GET STRONGER AND THE WEAK GET EATEN. THIS IS WHERE MUSCLE AND THE MIND BECOME ONE, FUSION OF THE FUTURE. ONCE YOU ENTER THERE IS NO RETURN. YOU SURVIVE OR DIE. THIS IS OUR PARADISE. BECOME ONE OF US." ~RICK BAYARDI
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
Figure I'll put up a couple workouts as of late. I planned on getting out there to cut the lawn but suddenly a bunch of clouds rolled in and it started pouring. Anyway, I've been following a conjugate-esque training style, both into my last meet and ever since. I enjoy training this way. And though I'm not that much a fan of the dynamic days, mostly bc I like to lift heavier weight, I've grown to like them. Or I implement modified ME days in place of them. Here's a couple ...
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
ME Lower
- Ab Wheel: 3 sets
- 2" Block Pulls: worked up to a single with 495, which is a PR.
- Chest Supported TBar Rows: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- Front SQ: 3 sets
- Romanian Deads: 2 sets
- KB Swings: 2 sets
You'll notice a reoccurring theme on the lower body days: more attention to the posterior chain. I feel that this has played an enormous role in my SQ/DL numbers. An area that I neglected for so long is now being built up stronger and my lower body lifts are following suit. Who knew.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
DE Upper
- Speed Bench: 10x3 w/ 155lbs straight weight
- Standing Overhead Press: worked up to a top set of 165x3
- Machine Row: 4 sets
- DB Press: 3 sets
- Pullups: 3 sets @ BW to failure
- Rolling DB Tricep Ext: 3 sets
- DB Curl: 3 sets
- DB Laterals: 3 sets
- DB Hammer Curl: 2 sets
- Standing DB Laterals: 2 sets
- Another reoccurring theme: increased volume. Typically, in the past, I've hit the main movement, a primary accessory for 3-4 sets, and then dick around and finish out the day with 2 sets of whatever else. I'm adding in more movements and at least 3 sets per. The outcome? I'm getting stronger and I'm getting bigger. My body is starting to take a past shape; rounder/fuller muscles. #boom
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
ME Upper
- Bench Press w/ 100lbs chain: worked up to a top set of 265x1 plus chains
- Incline DB Press: 3 sets
- Pullups: 4 sets of BW to F
- Rolling DB Tricep Ext: 3 sets
- V-Bar pushdown: 3 sets
- DB Hammer Curl: 3 sets
- DB Side Laterals: 3 sets
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
ME Lower
- SQ: worked up to a top set of 90% for 3 reps: 405 PR
- SLDL: 4 sets
- Leg Press: 3 sets
- Dimel DLs: 3 sets
- Reverse Hypers: 3 sets
- Abs: 3 sets
This was my first heavy SQ workout since the meet, almost 2 months prior at this workout. I was nervous about attempting a PR weight for a triple being that I haven't had anything more than 300 on my back in two months, but I fucking drilled it.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
DE Upper
- Speed Bench: 12x3 w/ 125lbs straight weight
- Standing OHP: 4 sets of 5
- BB Row: 3 sets
- Rope Pushdown: 3 sets
- CG Lat Pull: 3 sets
- DB Hammer: 3 sets
- DB Laterals: 3 sets
- Tate Press: 3 sets
This was the day I fucked my thumb up, scraping a solid few layers of skin off. I wrapped than son'bitch up and went to the gym. It was not a smart idea. It was dumb. I limped my way through this workout, choosing easier machines over compound movements due to the injury.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
DE Lower
- Speed Box SQ: 12x2 w/ 180 straight weight (due to thumb injury, I went nice and easy)
- Cambered Bar GMs: 4 sets
- Weighted Back Ext: 3 sets
- Leg Press: 3 sets
- Abs: 3 sets
Couldn't do much and was limited with the thumb, so I did the basics and done.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
ME Upper
- Bench: worked up to a top set of 5 w/ 265lbs
- Machine Incline: 3 sets
- Machine Row: 3 sets
- One Arm Overhead Db Ext: 3 sets
- Cable Curl: 3 sets
- Cable Pushdown: 3 sets
- DB Hammer/Laterals super set: 3 sets
This was the final day of the limited thumb. Despite not being able to grip the bar with my left hand, I was happy with the number I put up for 5 reps.
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."
ME Lower:
**Thumb was all healed up and I was ready to rip
- Deads: worked up to a top set of 5 w/ 425 PR
- Front SQ: 4 sets of 5
- Chest Supported TBar Row: 3 sets
- Dimel DLs: 3 sets
- Back Ext: 3 sets
- Abs: 3 sets
Jersey Animals
"In the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete, drawn, only to be washed away. For the time that I've been given, I am what I am."